mod_breadcrumbs_adv

Micronutrients Reduce Damage Caused by Prescriptions Drugs

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

With over 65% of Americans taking one or more pharmaceutical medicines on a regular basis, it is imperative to be aware of not only the damaging health side effects but the associated costs as well. According to a 2008 estimate, Americans are spending more than $205 billion on prescription drugs alone. Contrary to popular belief, the elderly are not the only age group being overly medicated. Drugs for children are one of the pharmaceutical industry’s fastest growing businesses.

It is important to note that most of the pharmaceutical drugs do not address the root cause of disease and therefore do not provide a long-term cure but simply act as a temporary symptom reliever. However, in this process of relieving symptoms many drugs deplete the body of several essential nutrients that are essential in maintaining the normal functioning of the body and also protecting the body organs from the dangerous side effects of the drugs.

Therefore, we studied1 the effects of a specifically designed micronutrient supplementation on the organ damage caused by administration of an anti-arrhythmic drug (Amiadarone) in mice. The lungs and liver are the organs most frequently damaged by Amiadarone. We studied the levels of different enzymes (e.g., CPK, AST) that are routinely monitored to evaluate heart and liver damage in humans. The mice treated with Amiadarone showed increased levels of CPK and AST, however, after supplementing with the specific micronutrient mixture, these levels were reversed to normal. The normalization effect was more profound in the group of mice that received the micronutrients in their diet before getting the very high dose of Amiadarone showing that the organ damage was far less and easily restored.

We also conducted a study using the anticancer drug (Adriamycin) which showed similar2 results. Adriamycin causes severe damage to the heart and liver, which rapidly becomes irreversible. When a group of mice was given a specific micronutrient mixture prior to the administration of Adriamycin, we observed a significant reduction in their liver and kidney damage as monitored by the specific markers, e.g., AST, ALT, creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), etc.

Managing the side effects of prescription drugs are often more challenging than the original disease itself and can even cause death. Despite all the precautions, properly administered pharmaceutical drugs are estimated to kill 100,000 people yearly in the US and they have now become the fourth leading cause of death, disabling several thousands more. National hospital expenses to treat patients who suffer from drug side effects are estimated to be between $1.56 and $5.6 billion annually.

Not only do pharmaceutical drugs fail to cure diseases, they weaken the vital organs of the body such as the heart, liver, and kidneys, and they cause substantial damage leading to further deterioration of the patient’s health. Our studies prove that continuous supplementation of the essential micronutrients can help reduce this damage and potentially restore the patient more quickly to a normal life.